Indigenous youth are driving policy change on reconciliation

Canada is falling behind on implementing recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 calls to action — and the pandemic is widening the gap between settler and Indigenous communities. 

Indigenous communities from coast-to-coast-to-coast face oppression and marginalization. COVID-19 infection and fatality rates are disproportionately high among Indigenous communities. Indigenous people living off-reserve are more than twice as likely to experience hunger — 27 percent of Indigenous people are food insecure compared to 11 percent of non-Indigenous households. And, since 2015, only 101 out of 163 long-term drinking water advisories in Indigenous communities have been lifted, meaning the federal government has missed its March 2021 target to solve this problem again.

There are signals of potential change on the horizon. In December 2020, for instance, the Government of Canada introduced legislation to implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) — after 13 long years of being first adopted by the UN General Assembly. 

The social impact world can build on this momentum. How can social purpose organizations support Indigenous youth working in policy? And what needs to change so that all levels of policymaking can co-build with Indigenous youth an equitable and just future? 

Future of Good is excited to announce that between May and July, we’ll be collaborating with the Canadian Roots Exchange (CRE) as they launch their inaugural Indigenous Youth Policy Hackathon on a three-part story series and Twitter Chat. The series will profile policy perspectives of emerging Indigenous youth leaders, ways they are reimagining traditional policy processes, and explore reconciliation-focused policy solutions to the inequities exacerbated and amplified by the pandemic.

Stay tuned for more.

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